A frequent topic for both students and educators is the significance and purpose of one's time in school and the impact education will have later on in life. Teachers often remind us of the benefits of a well-rounded education and how no learning opportunity should be wasted. While the benefits of learning subjects that may or may not be used in one's future career varies from student to student, the impacts of subverting the learning process for the sake of ease have significant consequences. Unfortunately, students might find themselves tempted to cheat as a result of not seeing the value in their education, and the rate at which students cheat on average around the country can be disheartening.

Academic dishonesty can occur when students fail to see inherent value in their educational process and when students have a less sophisticated or developed moral compass. The good news is that schools can foster this moral development and encourage intrinsic motivation every single day, and this happens here at Episcopal.

Scholars Christopher Qualls, Lafe Figgars and Danette Gibbs found that as many as eight in ten college students self-report cheating, according to their paper in The College Student Journal. Liora Schmelkin, a professor at Hofstra University, has conducted research indicating that around seventy percent of high school students cheat. Most shocking of all these statistics comes from a professor of medicine at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Taradi found through numerous surveys that a whopping ninety-seven percent of those medical students surveyed have cheated during medical school. Students who will go on to hold people's lives in their hands and even those educated at the most selective universities can shortchange their education. Further, the negative impacts of people in important careers who cut corners don't start and stop with those in the medical field.

Similarly, business schools are sometimes plagued by a lack of academic integrity. Assistant professor of business at William Woods University, Stephen Forsha, has not only found that business schools have high rates of academically dishonest students but also a set of students who tolerate academic dishonesty more than others at different institutions. In recent years, insider trading scandals have shaken the business world and have been the catalyst for large amounts of public discourse on corruption from major companies. These scandals have also cost innocent people millions and resulted in huge numbers of lost jobs. Many corrupt corporate executives behind these scandals attended prestigious undergraduate and graduate schools with a focus in business. Many have another thing in common that makes academic dishonesty a very important issue.

The biggest reason students are academically dishonest is that they lack fully-developed moral development. Moral development is a psychological theory founded by late psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, which quantifies the levels of moral reasoning that guide a person’s actions. The lower levels of moral reasoning relate to self-interest and are (supposed to be) mostly exhibited by younger children. The intermediate level has to do with social conformity, and most teens function at this level (ideally). Fully functioning, well-developed adults are supposed to function at the highest level, which has to do with principles and ethics that do not sway in the face of societal pressure. Kohlberg’s theory was made with the assumption that most people function at a level of moral development that is appropriate for their age, but in real life this isn’t always  true. This is where the problem with academic dishonesty becomes obvious. It has been found by the previously mentioned Stephen Forsha that business students display levels of moral development commonly displayed by young children and make arguments relating to ethics that are directly related to their own self-interest. Putting people with the same amount of moral development as children in positions of massive power and wealth is bound to lead to all sorts of problems, and of course it has with all of the previously mentioned examples of business scandals.

But, this does not have to be reality. Lynn Aaron and Catherine Roche, two academics published in the Journal of Educational Technology Systems, have found that academic dishonesty rates have risen tremendously from 1988 to 2008. This coincides with schools becoming more focused on performance and less focused on ensuring students are good citizens and human beings. Around 1988, schools stopped making character education mandatory, and academic dishonesty rates rose as a result. If the world wants to make sure students value being a good person and approach their lives with the same ethical attitudes across all of their endeavors, then schools need to return to focus on having conversations about ethics.

When all my research was said and done, I reflected on my time at Episcopal and realized several things. The first was about how lucky I was to be a member of the Episcopal community, and how much our school truly cared about its community. This included the honor code and our school’s mission to make students become good people who go on to lead purposeful lives. It made me feel lucky to be so involved in a true preparatory school: one that is not only concerned with producing good students and workers but good people as well. Episcopal has achieved this goal in every avenue I’ve witnessed. This truly hit me when members of the honor council at Washington and Lee University came to discuss our school’s honor system with us, and our entire discussion group revolved around trying to make our school’s system of integrity better. It became clear that we have succeeded in our mission and that Episcopal helps encourage students who are willing to speak about things they thought were wrong and try to make what they were passionate about better.

“You’re a Facebook famous puppy,” my family friend said in an excited, smiling tone as she reached out to pet my dog. This was the first reaction when Bailey walked in to a meeting I was attending.

My dad’s Facebook profile overflows with pictures of a short, long haired and tan dog with white spots and the fluffiest white tail you can imagine. Bailey, our flood-rescue dog, has the face of a chihuahua and the body of a papillon. If you examined my dad’s profile page even a little, it would be hard to believe Bailey wasn’t the only member of the Solomon family. There is no way to really know our family without knowing Bailey. Along with pictures of her sitting on his office chair or posing with pumpkins for fall, you can find pictures of her visiting with her fans: people who love to be visited by this happy pup and request her presence.

​Aside from her modeling “career,” Bailey and my dad, Jim Solomon, are a registered therapy dog team through Tiger HATS LSU. In the midst of the Louisiana floods of 2016, this lost dog followed my dad through the streets near a home he was helping to fix. After searching for her home and not having any success, he soon adopted her, and began to realize how even-tempered she was. Having just moved from Newtown, CT, Jim had experienced therapy dogs himself after the Sandy Hook tragedy, and Bailey reminded him of the positive impact they had on him. He wanted to find a way to share her sweetness with others.

In “The Effect of Therapy Dogs on Children in a Learning Environment,” Kimberly Ann Scheckler defines a therapy dog as “a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas.” These dogs are trained and evaluated through many organizations such as Love on a Leash, Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs, and The Delta Society Pet Partners. Screening and examining of the owner/handler is also performed through these individual groups.

Therapy dogs are used for animal assisted therapy, which means they comfort anyone through petting or just viewing, and they have been found to have many positive benefits. Just a few of these benefits are outlined by Christine Cochran of Roxy Therapy Dogs. In just “15 minutes of petting a dog: blood pressure drops 10%; serotonin rises (relaxation); cortisol decreases (bad mood); dopamine increases (depression fighting); and anxiety is reduced.” There are many physical benefits to visiting with a therapy dog in a short amount of time. Adolescents, and those who parent or work with them, are no strangers to the challenges that can pop up during this critical time in our development. Stress and pressure is inevitable. But, sometimes, more serious obstacles like depression and anxiety can affect an adolescents’ schooling experience.

Helping with obstacles such as these, dogs can also provide a sense of belonging, as Mary Louise O’Brien states in her article “Pets as Counselors.” She notices that dogs will “love you (unconditionally) just the way you are.” There is no need to impress a dog or to feel judged because they have no way to process it. It also becomes easy to trust them, as they are incapable of repeating your information.

To utilize the positive effects of therapy dogs, Tiger HATS facilitates a program in the Baton Rouge community. The organization holds classes to allow dog owners and their pets to learn more about becoming a team through the organization Pet Partners International. The duo must then pass a series of exams to become certified and gain an insurance coverage policy. After this, the teams will be sent out to locations around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to visit locations and bring joy to difficult situations. One of Bailey’s most visited places is the Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, where she gets to cheer up patients who are recovering or families of loved ones in a state of emergency.

After seeing the impact the two made on others, I decided to become a registered therapy dog team with Bailey. I now get to take her to the Parker House, a “Therapeutic Group Home in Louisiana for children ages 3-13 who… have been diagnosed with a severe behavioral disorder or a mental illness,” according to Volunteers of America. I get to introduce her to kids who seek comfort and share funny stories about her to gift them with a moment of peace in the midst of their chaos. In just the two visits I’ve had at the house, I’ve seen the difference therapy dogs make in these children’s lives. Their eyes light up, and they become ecstatic when they get to walk or hug her. Bailey becomes their own piece of joy in the moment, and they become disappointed when she has to leave, but they hold on to the hope that they’ll see her, along with the other dogs who visit, again the next month.

Audrey Hendler, the founder of a therapy dog program in New York City, A Fair Shake for Youth, visits students alongside dogs to teach them about empathy. She found that the middle schoolers she reached out to gained empathy and confidence as they realized the dogs were relating and listening to them. She also noticed that “Having an adult tell them they’ll be back next week and then showing up is a big deal to these kids… [because] adults aren’t always a consistent part of their life.” Not only does this example show the joy dogs can bring, but it can relate to the sense of trust the kids at the Parker House begin to experience.
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I began to realize that if registered therapy dogs are this beneficial, why don’t we see them utilized more often and in different environments? I think they should become a new norm. I’d like to see them more often roaming hallways in schools or even in other environments that may cause stress, such as an airport or a mall. When looking at schools, it’s important that these places of education are open to trying out new things, and Episcopal has proven this is possible. Bailey has made appearances here at Episcopal for educational purposes and has been welcomed happily by the counseling staff and administration. With clear benefits and insurance fighting against potential drawbacks, there is little to no room left to argue against the implementation of therapy dogs. Just a moment of petting these sweet creatures can bring a great amount of relief, and I’d love to share that with others, as I know the feeling myself.

P.S.
This idea of therapy dogs being used in schools were first introduced to me after the Sandy Hook tragedy when they helped me and my classmates in the search for comfort. To learn more about this experience that lead to my research, click here.

Abby is six and dressed head to toe in pink with light-up glitter Sketchers, still fresh with shoe store fragrance, on her feet for her first day of first grade. Finally, she is allowed to walk herself to the bathroom and eat lunch with the big kids in the cafeteria. In class, Abby’s teacher hands each student two primary colored folders: either blue, yellow, or red. The primary colors are completely separate and unique; they cannot be blended with anything to make the others. This idea of separation also carries into the materials inside the two folders. The first folder is for math, learning how to handle the combination of numbers, and the second is for English, the first steps towards understanding words, then sentences, and then whole stories and chapter books.

This separation of disciplines from a very young age is not only common but relatively standard in schools across the country. Clearly this system works: children go in, learn one subject, learn another, go home, read, do a few math problems, and repeat the next day. However, this system leaves little room for the messiness of learning, for the neon pinks and lime greens, for the experiences that cannot be neatly cataloged but shape the course of children’s development.

Luckily, our Lower School program at Episcopal celebrates this “messiness of learning.” You need not look too far to see Pre-K tending to their gardens while learning about butterfly migration to Mexico, all while dancing in rain puddles and creating imaginary worlds and vivid stories with their friends. This sort of holistic approach to learning comes naturally to the smallest of learners and should be embraced as they continue to grow and develop.

At home, this messiness manifests when Abby is baking apple pie with her grandmother, throwing a ball with her little sister, practicing the piano, coloring on the walls of her room, or digging for dinosaur bones in her backyard. Abby is learning and her brain is following suit.

These sorts of experiences, at home or at school, show the world functioning in interdisciplinary ways. When you bake you have to keep sight of a long term goal while following sometimes tedious instructions and understanding the chemistry of mixed ingredients. When you throw a ball you have to think about the angle of your arm so it does not fly straight into the ground, and when you play the piano you have to be able to read the music and hit the right notes simultaneously. Just as they are in life, subjects in school are innately connected and these connections between different academic disciplines in everyday life make the idea of interdisciplinary learning in the classroom seem less daunting or radical.

Here at Episcopal, students like Abby practice this interdisciplinary style of thought everyday. Through project based learning, students are exposed to real world situations and are asked to engage with their environments. On the Coach Dupe trail, in the art room, and while programming robots: Episcopal encourages students to explore new ideas that wind like rabbit holes into lands of imagination.  

Specifically, music and math are two subjects that, when purposefully connected, fit this philosophy quite nicely. As shown in an experiment by Johannes Sarnthein, listening to music for ten minutes can greatly increase brain activation in the prefrontal cortex, which is located at the very front of the brain. The cortex houses what are called executive functioning skills, which include spatial temporal reasoning, planning, decision making, motivation, and goal setting. Students who excel in math are typically adept in processes like pattern recognition, which not only relies on executive functioning skills, but is also present in music comprehension.

This innate connection is an example of the reinforcement of skills in education. The way the brain works on a basic level is that when we learn something and have it reinforced in some way, it will be processed to form neural pathways within the brain. All of these pathways add up to create a network of constantly growing and changing knowledge.

As stated in "The Optimum Context for Learning; Drawing on Neuroscience to Inform Best Practice in the Classroom" by Bettina Hohnen and Tara Murphy, “an immature brain is not necessarily one with fewer neurons; rather, it is one with fewer connections between neurons.” Even though our brains stop growing after the age of five, according to Daniel Pink, as we grow the number of connections in our brains dwarfs the number of neurons one million times over. Just as everyone eventually stops getting taller without having experienced everything or knowing everything there is to know, our brains stop getting bigger without ceasing to learn and further develop.
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For current parents, a dramatic shift in the education system during your child’s time in school is unlikely, but there are ways to nurture the messiness of learning at home to augment the more traditional practices of the classroom. The next time you’re baking a cake together or rearranging the furniture in the living room, help your child see the many different academic disciplines that are intersecting. Encouraging kids to try new activities and experience new things, particularly ones that might be scary or uncomfortable at first, can help impart in kids a drive and love of learning that is applicable all through school and will help them learn and develop necessary skills throughout their lives.

thesis focuses on the troubling trends of social isolation and loneliness, teaches us that though we’re more connected than ever through digital means, many of us will suffer as we lose meaningful personal interactions and dynamics in an ever-evolving 21st century. 

So, in Thesis, students lean in towards experiences and activities that bind them to one another so that in their bravery and vulnerability, they feel emboldened to take risks, project their voices and open the door for significant and authentic discovery. And our students believe that their discoveries should be shared so that their learning doesn’t merely exist within the walls of our classroom.

More concretely speaking, the Thesis Program is made up of curious and motivated students, 22 juniors and 20 seniors, who wish to pursue independent projects over the span of two years. The junior year Seminar is dedicated to discussion-based classroom experiences that build toward project-based outcomes. The students unpack significant issues relevant to today’s world and are encouraged to “complicate” these issues further and notice the intersections between perspectives. They practice critical thinking by never settling for the simplest, most black and white explanations. These learning experiences eventually lead to the selection of a research topic, which marries their passions with their curiosities. Many months of investigation, drafting, organizing, and discussing ushers in the senior year Thesis course in which students prepare to share their discoveries with their community.
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So, to that end, this week three students will share pieces relating to their Thesis projects as a way to initiate conversation.
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Finally, save the date for LAUNCH 2019 where you will hear from all the Thesis seniors and others who are interested in sharing their perspectives and projects. February 22 will be a day to celebrate learning and discovery by projecting student voices across campus. For now, I invite you to read these student writers and honor the intention behind their work, which is to prompt discussion, connection, and engagement with one another.

As students across the nation prepare for the October 27th ACT testing date, the organization that distributes the ACT test has released the 2018 Condition of College & Career Readiness Report. This annual report provides state testing data and the latest testing trends among students. According to ACT, the national average composite score dipped in 2018 from the previous year. The same downward trend was also seen among Louisiana’s Class of 2018.

At Episcopal, that trend does not hold true.

Episcopal students have consistently performed better on the ACT over the last four years with a 9.38% improvement. Upper School Division Head Tom Forti says this is thanks in part to the solid academic foundation that students are provided every day in every division in every class. According to the ACT College Readiness report, research has shown this to be true, with the rigor of coursework having the greatest impact on ACT performance and college readiness.

​While test scores are impressive, the numbers cannot accurately tell the story. The Episcopal story is witnessed and felt as students take the stage for the first time in Lower School, or as an athlete earns extra playing time or even as the list of colleges and universities accepting Episcopal students grows. The Episcopal legacy is strong, as evidenced by the alumni who continue to enroll their children at their alma mater and by the community that continues to entrust the school with the hopes of the next generation.

Episcopal students have varying academic interests and long-term goals. The same student who sings the lead in the school musical may also be a member of the football team.  A student with a passion for research may also have a heart for poetry and writing. These are one of the many benefits of being part of a small school that delivers big success!

To highlight student success and provide a clear snapshot of the range interests, Episcopal created the Upper School Academic Distinctions program last year. “Students are more than just their grades and we want to highlight that,” says Dean of Academics Dr. Sara Fenske. Dr. Fenske says the Distinctions program is designed to provide a more complete story regarding an individual student’s secondary school career.

​​Upper School students can earn a Level I or Level II Distinction. To complete the Distinction, the student must perform well in applicable courses and demonstrate commitment, leadership and a positive contribution beyond classroom work in the area of interest. Just a few examples include participating in Mu Alpha Theta for a Math Distinction, serving as a member of the Student Vestry for a Religious Studies Distinction or participating in a community theater production for an Arts Distinction.

A new element of the Distinction experience this year is the introduction of faculty mentors. Dr. Fenske says students are partnered with a mentor to help guide them through the process and keep them focused on the requirements. The student will meet with their mentor throughout the year as they work toward their goal. Mentor and Math Department Chair Stephen Anderson says while the process has only just begun, the interaction is meaningful.

​“The mentoring process presents opportunities to have specific, individualized discussions with students regarding the importance and value of being more than just an “A” student. Being able to help students discover opportunities that allow them to pursue their passions/talents/interests in a more focused way is rewarding for both the teacher and the student,” he says.

Dr. Fenske. She says the program will help students explore their own interests much more in depth, which could ultimately have tremendous implications for their long-term aspirations. In an Academic Points piece last year, Head of School Hugh McIntosh predicted that Distinctions will do just that. “Student choice, ownership, and mentoring are elements of Distinctions which are known, thru educational research, to result in commitments to being a lifelong learner. In other situations, Episcopal students have blossomed when they are partners of a kind in their academic adventures.”

No doubt as the Episcopal Distinction program evolves, students will continue to explore their interests and discover creative and meaningful ways to achieve their goals.

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at 19.
Steve Jobs started Apple at 21.
Bill Gates launched Microsoft in his 20’s.

While research varies regarding the ideal age to launch a business, the innovations coming out of tech companies and Silicon Valley have certainly given encouragement to young people with business acumen. This year, a national organization known for fostering entrepreneurial skills in school-age students, is offering that encouragement and coaching to Baton Rouge’s future business leaders.

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Baton Rouge (YEA BR) recently announced its inaugural class of 26 students representing 14 schools and one home school. Three Episcopal students were selected as a part of the class – Abhay Basireddy, Akshay Basireddy and Charlie Roth. YEA BR Chair and Episcopal parent and alumna Deborah Sternberg ’90 says this is an incredible opportunity for these young people.

The national Young Entrepreneurs Academy was founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester in New York. Since then, the organization has expanded to include more than 100 locations in America and additional sites in India and China. Sternberg says YEA has 9,000 graduates operating 6,000 student-run businesses.

Sternberg, whose son Charlie Roth is a member of this year’s YEA BR class, says the idea to begin such a program locally has an interesting Episcopal connection. When Charlie was in fourth grade here at Episcopal he participated in a shark tank type of event, featuring guest speaker and LSU Innovation Park Executive Director Charles D’Agostino. Sternberg recalls that when D’Agostino asked if the group had any questions her own son raised his hand and simply asked for D’Agostino’s business card. At the time, young Charlie said he had several business ideas to run by the business veteran. This simple act sparked a thought in Sternberg. “Why wait until college to determine a child’s business interest?”

As a sophomore, Charlie Roth is excited to explore his entrepreneurial aspirations and to take advantage of the opportunities the YEA BR program has to offer. When thinking about the opportunity before him his face lights up as he reflects on the reality of starting a business in high school. He says the reality of the experience is what gets him most excited when he thinks about pitching his ideas to real people with real money. And just like his fourth grade self, he still has numerous ideas in mind to start a successful venture.

Charlie’s classmate Akshay Basireddy shares that enthusiasm. Basireddy was one of only three eighth graders accepted into this year’s class. While initially that thought made him nervous, he quickly realized that he was selected for a reason. He says the first day of the class he was able to offer helpful ideas that others had not considered. After being able to make an impact on the first day, he is looking forward to learning from the guest speakers, using the LSU resources and meeting with investors.  

Akshay’s brother Abhay Basireddy was also selected for the inaugural YEA BR class. He says he is curious and eager to know more about the aspects of being an entrepreneur. “It is really exciting,” he says. “It brings together a community of people with their own business ideas.” Like Charlie and Akshay, Abhay says he has a few business ideas already in mind.

Here at Episcopal, students with business savvy have a range of opportunities and resources to help them achieve their dreams. Upper School teacher Vincent Hoang teaches two entrepreneurial studies courses in which students learn the principles of business. New this year, students have an opportunity to actually use the theories they learned in the classroom in a NuVu Episcopal Design Studio experience.

“The strength of the course is that they’re learning real life applications of business skills and they can fail without being penalized,” says Hoang. Hoang, who reminds students that WD40 earned its name because the developer tried 39 times before getting it right, says failure is a part of the entrepreneurial process. He says like the business development process, the Episcopal courses are a journey that helps students learn more about themselves as they continue to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will benefit them in all aspects of life.

Episcopal students have a history of success when it comes to business endeavors. Current students can simply look back at the stories of successful alumni as examples of making a dream a reality. Just a few examples of successful Episcopal business men and women, entrepreneurs or graduates who have been in the news recently include:

• Gordon “Skeet” Leblanc ’78 - Founding Partner, Stonehenge Capital
• Sean Reilly - '79, CEO, Lamar Advertising Company
• Gwen Graves ’88, Past McDonald’s Franchise Owner; Raising Cane’s leader
• Todd Graves ’90 - Founder, Chairman, CEO, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
• Dr. Rubin Patel ’90 - CEO/Medical Director, Patient Plus Urgent Care Clinics
• Deborah Sternberg ’90, Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Baton Rouge
• Erich Sternberg ’86, Starmount Life Insurance

With the school and community opportunities available to Episcopal students, there is no limit to what students can achieve. Congratulations to this year’s YEA BR participants!

"The internet and jumbo jets are shrinking the world.” Dr. Rebecca Kuhn uses one of her college professor’s favorite quotes to sum up how the world is increasingly becoming a more connected place. With that connectedness in mind, Dr. Kuhn is now leading the newly established Episcopal Global and Social Studies Department.

The concept of global studies is becoming more important in independent schools across the country. According to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the purpose of an independent school education is to provide a pathway to global citizenship for students. NAIS offers the following best practices for schools:

• Present a view of the world that invites and rewards curiosity concerning the richness and diversity of all human societies, and encourages respect for all people.
• Develop curriculum which helps students recognize how differing cultures, traditions, histories and religions may underlie views and values.
• Provide resources and activities in support of instruction which can help carry learning in the direction of world understanding.
• Expect teachers, administrators and other staff members to model respect for all peoples and cultures and to address constructively instances of bias or disdain for nationalities, cultures or religions outside of their own.
• Seek beyond the institution itself partnerships and networking which may help it promote global awareness, experience and problem-solving for its students.
• Educate and encourage parents to support school initiatives which promote global understanding.
• Seek a diversity of cultural, national and ethnic backgrounds in the recruitment of teachers and administrators.

For many years now, Episcopal faculty have found meaningful ways to introduce students to other perspectives. Recently, Spanish students from Colegio Bristol in Madrid arrived for a two-week cultural exchange. This is the sixth year of the Spanish exchange program, which was established by Dr. Victoria Alvarez and former teacher Erena Messina. In addition to the Spanish exchange program, Episcopal’s Julien Prevost has organized a French exchange and Science Department Chair Sarah Pulliam has led an exchange to Chile.

​Dr. Kuhn says schools across the country are gaining a deeper appreciation for travel as they become more intentional about incorporating these experiences into the actual classroom curriculum. At Episcopal, there are multiple opportunities for curricular-based travel. For example, British Literature students have the opportunity to explore what they have learned by participating in a trip to Scotland and England. History teacher Clara Howell reinforces what AP History students have learned with an opportunity to travel to Europe. In a similar fashion, Latin teacher Michael Posey takes students on a trip to Rome.

To provide students a truly authentic perspective on what life is like in other cultures, Dr. Kuhn and department staff are purposeful when organizing travel opportunities. During exchanges, students and faculty stay with host families in their homes, rather than a more generic hotel. When host students are in Baton Rouge, the same arrangements are made with students staying with Episcopal families. These experiences help students develop an appreciation for other cultures and encourage them to love their neighbor, including their similarities and differences. Episcopal’s Douglas Robins wrote an article last year about his experience hosting a French exchange student. Click here to read Reframing Normal.

In addition to enriched exchange programs, the Global and Social Studies Department is incorporating global themes into everyday lessons. Students have the opportunity to learn more about political components of the global environment through the Global Conflicts and Diplomacy course. Outside of the classroom, numerous students participate in a three-day Model United Nations program each spring, where they represent other countries and learn more about parliamentary procedures. In Social Studies, faculty are more intentional about global concepts or even how local history was impacted by global events. Two new courses are also being offered by World Language teachers this year to more fully immerse students in the cultural components of a society. Francophone Film Studies is being taught in both French and English and Spanish Ethnomusicology is being taught in Spanish and English.  Another new addition to the global experience this year is French in Lower School. New French teacher Albina Denisyuk joined Episcopal this fall. Denisyuk previously studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France and served eight years as a Language Assistant in French public schools. She joins a vibrant staff of experienced language teachers, who are passionate about sharing their language and culture with students.

For decades, Episcopal coaches have been providing that little nudge, direction and support to student athletes. Volumes of research prove that being a part of a team has lifelong, positive impacts on athletes. The benefits students reap from interacting with a great coach are equally as impressive. Here are just a few personal examples from Episcopal alumni. 

Episcopal coaches and teachers are invested in student success. Walk the halls of Lower School and you will find that the same coach who runs out of the tunnel on football Friday nights directs a row of kindergarten students quietly toward the gym or the coach who led her team to the state volleyball playoffs is the same coach running drills with first graders in Phillips Gym.

“We like to believe that Episcopal has a physical education experience that serves each student’s physical development. Our coaches are professionals that have devoted their lives to teaching students how to develop and care for their body. They just so happen to also be members of our varsity coaching staff. Every day in almost every grade level, our coaches are teaching our students how to move, have proper form, and develop aspects of health to better each student’s life.  It’s in our best interest, as these are the same students that will fill out our athletic teams and put in the extra effort that is crucial in remaining a competitive program in Baton Rouge,” says Episcopal Athletic Director Randy Richard.

Members of the Episcopal coaching staff are highly-qualified professionals, who also know what it is like to be an athlete. “From master’s degrees to special certifications and collegiate and professional athletes, our staff are indeed experts in their field.  They have the experiences to know what it takes to be successful and the understanding of what truly matters in life. Beyond each of our coaches’ awards and accolades, they are good people that truly care for each and every student. Our students know this, respect this, and buy in to what we do and how we teach it.  This common bond of trust and respect is what often gives our teams the edge over other programs,” says Richard.

The impact of a coach on the lives of players goes well beyond wins and losses. Oftentimes, coaches are who alumni remember as going the extra mile, pushing them beyond their perceived limits and molding them into who they are today.

We invite you to come back to Episcopal for Homecoming on Friday, September 28th. Homecoming is a great opportunity to reconnect with Episcopal coaches and teachers as the community comes together for this special occasion.  

New this year!
Alumni Tailgate
Alumni House
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Game time - 7:00 pm
Free football game tickets for those who attend the tailgate. Campus tours available for those interested.
Jambalaya dinner will be served near the field thru the first half.

Friday Night Live
Parking lot near the home team bleachers
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Current families and alumni are all invited to participate in the festivities, which will include a DJ, balloon artists and a video game truck.  Food and drinks will be served in the tent.  Please stay for the football game at 7:00 pm.  The tent will stay open thru halftime.

​Friday Knight Live is a combined event sponsored by Squires & Alumni Affairs.

This year’s King will be announced at the annual Homecoming Pep Rally on Friday, September 28th and the Queen will be named during halftime later that evening. Game time is set for 7:00 pm. All Episcopal alumni are invited to an Alumni Tailgate. ​Current families and alumni are invited to Friday Night Live.​ See below for more details.